Rory McIlroy was only able to claim a ‘moral victory’ as a rules blunder cost him the trophy at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship for the second time in three years.

Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal carded a final round of 67 to finish 14 under par, one stroke ahead of major winners McIlroy and Phil Mickelson.

The 24-year-old paid the price for taking an incorrect drop on the second hole of his third round, an error which cost him a two-shot penalty and left him fuming about golf’s ‘stupid rules’.

Two years ago, the former world No.1 was handed the same penalty for brushing away sand that was not on the green but which lay between his ball and the flag. He went on to finish one behind surprise winner Robert Rock.

‘I feel like I’m standing here and I should be 15-under par for the tournament and win by one, but that’s the way it goes,’ said the Northern Irishman.

‘I played the least shots of anyone this week. I can count it as a moral victory more than anything else.’

Mickelson had gone from two shots behind overnight leader Craig Lee – who slumped to a closing 77 – to one ahead before imploding on the 13th.

He ran up a triple-bogey seven after attempting to hit a right-handed escape shot from under a bush, only to suffer a ‘double-hit’ when his ball struck the bush and bounced back onto his club.

‘I was just trying to dribble it out of the bush, and I felt it was worth the risk,’ the left-hander said.

‘If Pablo had not birdied the last hole to win, I would have gotten into a play-off, so I give him a lot of credit.’